Briton kidnapped in Nigeria's Lagos released

ABUJA (Reuters) - A British national kidnapped last week shortly after arriving at Nigeria's Lagos airport has been released, the British High Commission said on Sunday.

The man was kidnapped on July 16 by gunmen who attacked his four-wheel-drive car after it left the airport's international terminal heading for a residential area of Lagos, security sources told Reuters. His Nigerian driver was shot in the hand.

"We can confirm the release of a British national today in Nigeria, following his abduction on 16 July," a statement from the British High Commission said, giving no further details.

Kidnapping of expatriates by armed gangs seeking ransom has long been rife in Nigeria's oil-producing southeast but is rarer in Lagos, the commercial capital, where most foreigners live.

A British businessman was kidnapped in March in an upmarket district of Lagos but was released four days later. It is not clear if a ransom was paid.

In Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, kidnappings of foreigners for ideological motives by Islamist groups have taken a deadlier turn. The Islamist group Ansaru killed seven foreign hostages in March, according to authorities in affected countries.